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the LCA experts can offer – do they speak a different language? Or is there another
reason that they are not able to connect? This is an intriguing question. This conclusion of a gap between the LCA department and the business was also supported by
the results of a quantitative research amongst 274 LCA practitioners in 28 countries
conducted by PRé in the second half of 2014.
4 What’s Next: How to Tackle This Chasm?
As a message to the LCA community and the researchers: the bottleneck is not in
the lack of sophisticated tools and methodologies. Companies need LCA departments and practitioners that are better connected with other departments and show
genuine interest in alternative approaches. The solution is not to make better LCAs
but get a better understanding of what marketing, design, research, purchasing and
other departments need.
Based on the round tables, quantitative research and existing scientifi c research
(Frankl 2002 ) we developed a fi ve-step approach to make the LCA department more
relevant:
1. Become a champion for LCA
2. Assure long-term management commitment to sustainability
3. Link LCA with business objectives
4. Find a shared language
5. Jointly explore new applications
These fi ve steps will help LCA departments and practitioners to increase their
impact in their company.
4.1 Become a Champion for Life Cycle Assessment
Most LCA experts have been trained in technical skills and try to capture reality in
a model to see what can make a change. However, technical skills are not suffi cient
to make a change. We learned from successful LCA practitioners how they are
working to become an internal champion, an intrapreneur for LCA, someone who
connects with other people and departments, who pleads the cause of LCA and that
explores how LCA can contribute to the company’s goals.
Business managers want to have as much information as possible to reduce the
risk, but know that you never know 100 % for sure. The same holds true for designers, they often work on an idea, a hunch without knowing whether it will work; for
instance, they know they have a cost target, but in the early sketch phase they have
no way of checking the cost with any precision, so unlike many LCA experts, they
are happy with any information that helps them to stay on course and consider the
9 How to Make the Life Cycle Assessment Team a Business Partner
the LCA experts can offer – do they speak a different language? Or is there another
reason that they are not able to connect? This is an intriguing question. This conclusion of a gap between the LCA department and the business was also supported by
the results of a quantitative research amongst 274 LCA practitioners in 28 countries
conducted by PRé in the second half of 2014.
4 What’s Next: How to Tackle This Chasm?
As a message to the LCA community and the researchers: the bottleneck is not in
the lack of sophisticated tools and methodologies. Companies need LCA departments and practitioners that are better connected with other departments and show
genuine interest in alternative approaches. The solution is not to make better LCAs
but get a better understanding of what marketing, design, research, purchasing and
other departments need.
Based on the round tables, quantitative research and existing scientifi c research
(Frankl 2002 ) we developed a fi ve-step approach to make the LCA department more
relevant:
1. Become a champion for LCA
2. Assure long-term management commitment to sustainability
3. Link LCA with business objectives
4. Find a shared language
5. Jointly explore new applications
These fi ve steps will help LCA departments and practitioners to increase their
impact in their company.
4.1 Become a Champion for Life Cycle Assessment
Most LCA experts have been trained in technical skills and try to capture reality in
a model to see what can make a change. However, technical skills are not suffi cient
to make a change. We learned from successful LCA practitioners how they are
working to become an internal champion, an intrapreneur for LCA, someone who
connects with other people and departments, who pleads the cause of LCA and that
explores how LCA can contribute to the company’s goals.
Business managers want to have as much information as possible to reduce the
risk, but know that you never know 100 % for sure. The same holds true for designers, they often work on an idea, a hunch without knowing whether it will work; for
instance, they know they have a cost target, but in the early sketch phase they have
no way of checking the cost with any precision, so unlike many LCA experts, they
are happy with any information that helps them to stay on course and consider the
9 How to Make the Life Cycle Assessment Team a Business Partner